Rediscovering England & Ireland, 2015

Location: [Home Page] [Projects Page] [Vacation Travel Main Page] [England & Ireland Rediscovery]

A Great Time Exploring London, Cotswolds & Ireland!!

Source: Dave Hagen
3 Jan 16

Since we are such Europhiles, we are always keen to travel back to the old continent to enjoy their scenery, history and lifestyle. Patty has longed for the opportunity to hike the Cotswolds, Jeff has always wanted to visit a Real Castle and Robyn & Dave are always up to an adventure. So we set off for London to rediscover the Great Kingdom and the Emerald Isle.

Not even willing to contemplate keeping up with Grandma as she hikes in sheep pastures day after day, Grandpa quickly retreated to hiring a bicycle. Since, in Elizabeth, we have a Master Travel Planner at our continual disposal, we asked her to arrange a Cotswold Self-Hiking Tour with a Personal Bike Rental on the side.

Patty wasn’t too keen to joining a hiking group with luggage transport and scheduled events, lodging and meals. Buff customized a tour for Patty on her own, we picked up a HireCar in Oxford, had a Bike delivered to our first residence, and we were off on our own adventure. Grandma did a good 10+ miles on foot each day, but Grandpa had to pick and choose carefully his biking routes because he had failed to consider the elevation rise and fall on many of the trails that ‘serious’ bikers undertake. Rather than being stranded in a valley he was unable to get out of, he rode mainly the main roads, going out to a midway luncheon place to meet up with Grandma, then returning to drive to find her at their next lodging spot.

We then returned to London in time to meet up with Jeff and Robyn, who were off on an adventure abroad to acknowledge the ‘empty nester’ aspect of their household that was created by Jordy’s departure for college the week previously. Dear old friends of ours from London, whom we had known years ago in Arenzano, Italy, Peter, Tricia and Nicholas Watts, met us at our hotel in London for a reunion after Forty (4-0) years apart!! In the meantime Nicholas had of course added a charming wife and two very animated children, who contributed immensely to make the evening so memorable and exciting.

Then we set off to explore the Emerald Isle. We did it up in grand style, touching a bit of Dublin, mainly for the pubs, breweries, distilleries and museums, then heading to Kerry and Dingle to explore the natural pictorial and breathtaking outdoors.

The younger pair roamed day and night, while the elder contingent stayed pretty close to the rental car, B & B lodging or local entertainment. Grandma continued her strenuous hiking (she had trained for 10 miles, you see, and now she couldn’t come back down to normal. Grandpa walked slowly, studied human nature, flora and fauna, and stayed alert to new adventure.

Jeff and Robyn were like kids again and explored day and night wherever we were. They saw all of Robyn’s haunts from 25 years ago when she was a student in England. They know every mile of London streets and tube stations, and also can spot the best pub in any neighborhood. They took in a London Play and partook in Family ‘Trad Music’ in Killarny pubs. Jeff did all driving in Ireland while Grandpa navigated super narrow 2-way peninsula roads by pulling in all side mirrors while meeting huge, aggressive tour busses enroute!

A Very Memorable Trip For All!!

Our exploration ranged from Harry Potter Hogwarts Train Boarding to Cotswolds Trail Hiking:

Here’s a small sample of the culture, history and scenery that we visited in our brief visit:

Patty Hiked The Cotswolds

While Dave Biked Trails

We Explored London By Day

And By Night

Father & Son Bonding With A Brew

And Out In Nature

Jeff Got To Visit His Castle

And Explore Dingle Beach

The Youngsters Toured Breweries

And Distilleries

We Lunched In Kerry

And Handled 2-Way Dingle Roads

We Met the Watts Family Again

A 40-Year Reunion!

We Met Friends On Tours

And In Every Pub!

We Enjoyed Kerry

And Hiked Her Trails

The Youngsters Climbed Trees

To Hide From The Lepruchans!

We Ranged From Dingle Peninsula

To Sherlock’s at 221B Baker Street

Thatched Roofs In Adair

And Castles In Kilkenny

We Stopped At Every Paddy’s Pub

And Enjoyed Their Pub Grub!

Thanks Again To Tricia and Peter Watts and Family for welcoming us back to England for a 40th Year Reunion since we shared Arenzano together in the 70’s!!

For more information